The Cleveland Heights City Council held an emergency meeting on Friday night to pass a resolution calling for an investigation into Mayor Kahlil Seren.
Calls for the resignation of Seren have grown louder, especially after a complaint against the City of Cleveland Heights with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission was filed in May that accused the mayor's wife of using anti-Semitic language when discussing city employees.
RELATED: Cleveland Hts. Mayor vows to continue working despite calls to resign over civil rights complaint
In April, Cleveland Heights Chief of Police Christopher Britton requested that the state investigate potential illegal recordings made during the city's law department's review of a hostile work environment complaint.
The state turned down the request, but Friday's resolution called on BCI to reconsider the decision saying new information has come to light.
"Today's accustions however are different they are potential felonies that warrant investigation by law enforcement - someone outside of city hall," said President of the Council Tony Cuda.
The mayor was present at the emergency meeting but did not speak when he was asked to make comments by the council president. Hours later, he released a statement that seemed to refer to the new resolution.
"No special interests or outside forces should ever be able to override an election or block a duly elected mayor from doing the job they were chosen to do," said Seren. "I must call it what it is: an assault on democracy and a failed attempt to silence the will of the people."
The full statement is below:
Like many Black mayors during the Trump era, I’ve been subjected to a political lynching - driven by those who have weaponized our community’s unaddressed racist biases and hate for their own gain, manipulating fear and division to serve their interests.
I am deeply thankful to the voters of Cleveland Heights for electing me as mayor almost four years ago - and for working hard to put me back on the ballot this week despite the best efforts of some who have tried for my entire term to overturn the will of the voters by consistently undermining the person they chose to lead. While the validation of my candidacy is currently in the hands of the Board of Elections, I am your Mayor for the remainder of 2025.
In a democracy, the will of the voters must always come first. No special interests or outside forces should ever be able to override an election or block a duly elected mayor from doing the job they were chosen to do. Yet that’s exactly what I have endured for almost four years. And I must call it what it is: an assault on democracy and a failed attempt to silence the will of the people.
As the mayor of this great city, I fully expect political opposition - that comes with the job and it’s fair. But what is not fair, what is not acceptable, is the persistence of a false and deeply harmful trope: that I, as a Black man, lack the intelligence, the work ethic, and the moral character to lead. That narrative is not new. It is a relic of America’s darkest chapters, used for generations to justify slavery and the systematic subjugation of Black people - by denying our capacity for thought, leadership and self-determination. To see that same trope weaponized against me today is not just a personal attack - it’s an attack on progress, on truth and on every Black person who has ever been told they are less than. I reject it fully - and I will continue to lead this city with the strength, integrity and vision our residents deserve.
James Baldwin once said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” That’s why I’m speaking this truth today. I don’t expect to change the minds of those who see me as their lesser simply because my Blackness tells them that I can’t possibly be a leader that they should respect and value. I can’t know what resentment and bias these people hold in their hearts, I can only conclude based on the consistency of their publicly expressed prejudice against my every action.
But I do believe this: the time is always right to stand up - to speak out - against injustice, against hatred and against the lies that seek to diminish the humanity of all people of color.
So I am addressing the hateful individuals who have tried to obstruct me from fighting for the people of Cleveland Heights. I am telling them that they cannot and will not win.
They’ve become so desperate, they have attacked the love of my life, my wife. She has been falsely accused in an attempt to tear me down. But I have evidence proving her innocence and will share that with the community. Now they are pulling another page from a well worn playbook: trying to criminalize my lawful actions as Mayor and seeking to destroy my well-earned reputation for a strict adherence to doing things the right way for a full decade of service to this community. I am in the good company of Black mayors nationwide - from Los Angeles to New Orleans, from Chicago to Memphis - who have all faced the same kind of stalker-level scrutiny, false accusations, and a constant drumbeat of negative propaganda against them on both the personal and professional levels.
All of this is a distraction rooted in outdated, hateful tropes that are carefully framed to mislead. It is noise meant to divide and derail us. But I am here to serve, to make our city better and to improve the lives of everyone in Cleveland Heights. That mission has not changed and I will not be prevented from moving our city forward.
Our richness lies in our diversity only if we choose to fully embrace it. We have people from nearly every walk of life that have chosen to call our city their home. That is something I am proud of and it’s something we all should cherish as one of Ohio’s greatest cities.
Serving as your mayor has been the honor of my life. And I will not allow racists, demagogues or special interests to distract me from the work that matters: building a cleaner, more affordable and more beautiful city for everyone who calls it home.
I invite you to attend a public event at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 2747 Fairmount Blvd on Monday, June 16 at 6:30 PM to hear more from your Mayor.
